Materiality
by Lithium Suicide
Summary: Chell sat in the back seat, potato in her lap. Her father glanced at her through the rear-view mirror. "Remember, don't touch anything at Daddy's work, okay?" Chell nodded. She knew when to follow instructions. And when not to.


_Chell sat in the back seat, potato in her lap. Her father glanced at her through the rear-view mirror. "Remember, don't touch anything at Daddy's work, okay?" Chell nodded. She knew when to follow instructions. And when not to._

* * *

><p>The seats in the childcare unit were hard and uncomfortable, so Chell had once again resorted to seating herself on the floor. She had coloured pencils and a few sheets of paper scattered around her haphazardly. The potato lay in front of her, and Chell stared at it determinedly. It felt like a waste to turn it into a simple battery that could power nothing more than a few flashing lights. She turned back to one of her papers that had a diagram drawn on it in a childish scrawl.<p>

Chell frowned at it, and quickly tossed the sheet aside again.

There weren't many other children in the centre. Not on ordinary days like this. She guessed it might have had something to do with the fact that she was mere metres away from the neurotoxin production facility. Chell may have been nine years old, but despite the worker's chirpy tone when explaining the reasons why a little girl should not wander into that area, she had understood the meaning perfectly. Alright, so she was a little fuzzy on what exactly neurotoxin was, but that's insignificant details. Science is about the end product, correct?

At least, that's what her father said. And that's what Chell was trying to emulate in the potato battery assignment she was currently musing over. One week to Bring Your Daughter to Work Day. One week to the science fair. One week to turn an ordinary potato into something to make Aperture Science proud.

Chell wasn't going to give up on this.

Glancing over at the one other child in the room, a tiny boy amusing himself with red firetruck, Chell decided there was nothing else for her to do here. The supervisor - a thin brunette who was paying more attention to her nails than the children she was being payed to care for - barely noticed when the young girl slipped out of the daycare with potato in hand.

Chell knew the way to the chemistry section her father worked at. She was good a memorising layouts, and optimising the best route. Her parents could all but admonish her for finding the quickest path home from school, going down sidestreets she shouldn't be familiar with.

She ran into few other people along the way. Most of the scientists stuck to their area, barely leaving, choosing to work feverently on whatever new project entranced them. Down two levels in an elevator, Chell emerged, greeted with a clear white placard stating the floor's facilities. She recognised the word 'chemical' and followed the arrow pointing down a narrow hall lined with fluorescent lights.

Stopping at the third door to the left, which she knew from memory was the right one, Chell reached a small hand towards the handle and slid it aside. The room was empty of human life. She was confused, momentarily, before she noticed a round clock on the wall. 12.30 - the typically assigned lunch break time. Chell was familiar with the location of the cafeteria, too, from the occasions when her father kept her with him rather than the daycare, but she chose not to head there. Instead, she silently closed the door behind her and headed into the chemical engineering workplace.

A few computers hummed in the background, adding a low ambience to the otherwise silent room. Chell padded past stacks of files and notes, looking with curiosity for a few moments. She quickly found the place void of anything spectacular, and followed through another door at the back.

This new room was dark, lit only with a deep red light. Chell had not been beyond the front section, and immediately she began scanning the walls and tables with renewed enthusiasm. There were petri dishes and test tubes sitting on most surfaces; some with bubbling liquids, others with syrupy sludge. Most were hazardously unlabled, and those that were had only a quick scribble on a scrap piece of paper. Chell touched nothing, continuing on through the room before reaching a second door.

The next area was filled with the usual white light, and Chell blinked and squinted until her eyes became accustomed to the sudden brightness once more. There were shelves at every free space and corner, and as far as she could see, no more exits apart from the once she just entered through. With a feeling that something useful was in this room, Chell started inspecting the nearest row of containers. These ones were as sorted as the previous room's contents; that is to say, not at all. Unperturbed, she gazed over each bottle thoroughly, noting the characteristics of each. Slowly

Chell crept along the shelf, eyeing them all, when a rather large flask caught her attention. It had a label on it, surprisingly, but she did not recognise the words. She tried sounding them out, 'bee-oh-low-gee-kal,' then 'reh-groh-th' - that word had 'growth' in it, she knew that one - and finally 'ack-ell-er-ah-tor,' which she was sure she had heard before in a conversation but the meaning escaped her. She quirked her head to the side, thinking silently, before she reached for the jar.

It had a pretty clear substance in it, and since it was somehow related to 'growth' - which was in turn often related to plants and other things in the soil - Chell had a confident hunch it would do a lot of good for the potato. Without hesitation, she sat the potato in the spot the container used to be, unscrewed the lid cleanly, and utterly saturated the vegetable.

For a couple of seconds nothing happened, the liquid shining on the food's skin. Then, with little more than a mild sizzle, the potato melted. Chell looked disapointedly at the brown puddle that had once been her science project, a small pout working its way onto her face. She had been so sure. Just as she started searching for something to wipe the mess away, the puddle rippled suddenly. Chell stopped, and watched expectantly.

Within a few seconds the soggy mush started rising, gathering, and within a few blinks reformed into a perfectly normal potato. Chell took the spud into her hands. It looked and felt the same, except maybe being a little warm. She wasn't quite sure what happened, but her potato was back and apparently invincible. Maybe it'd now provide enough power for something useful, like a microwave or television. Happily satisfied, Chell replaced the strange growth formula, clutched her potato tightly, and quietly exited the chemistry labs before she was caught.

She was nearly out into the main entrace when a voice called out behind her.

"Chell? What are you doing here, honey?"

Turning slowly, Chell came to face with her father walking steadily towards her. Looks like lunchbreak was over, a little too soon for her convenience. She gave a small smile, if only to throw him off.

"I wanted to see what you were doing. You weren't in your usual room." Chell answered part-honestly, her voice forward and calm.

"You didn't touch anything, did you?"

Chell shook her head. If she didn't speak, it technically wasn't lying, right? Her father released a small sigh of relief.

"Good girl. Daddy has to work now, so you'll head back to the daycare centre, won't you?"

Chell nodded. Still not lying.

Her father gave her a warm smile that put creases at the edges of his eyes, before he backtracked and rejoined his colleagues waiting at the room for him. She stayed long enough to hear their chattering voices fade as the door closed.

Chell returned to the elevator, but did not immediately choose a level. She looked over the list of buttons, deciphering as much of the floor names as well as she could. No further harm could be done by exploring for a bit longer. Chell doubted her missing presence went noticed by the scatter-brained supervisor, and her navigation aptitude assured her she would find her way back. Aperture Laboratories was an interesting place - far more interesting than the bland walls of the childcare unit.

Picking a floor which was classified as something to do with testing, Chell leant against the elevator wall and absently waited. It moved fast, and soon the glass doors opened revealling a set stairs. Covering them with a few skips, Chell had pull herself to a sudden stop when at the top she was faced with an odd, electric blue barrier. Beyond it, a room that reminded Chell partly of the main upstairs lobby came into sight. There were a few people inside, mulling around in what seemed to be a waiting room. Chell reached for the unknown field, carefully poking one finger into it. Nothing happened, apart from a slight buzzing sensation. Appeased, she walked straight through it.

She was greeted instantly with a pre-recorded computer voice.

"The emancipation grill has indentified a person aged under 21. Children and teenagers are not permitted to test, or be in the testing area. If you are a child, please lay down on the floor in the escort position, and wait for an escort bot to retreive you. If you are not a child, and in fact a dwarf or other miniture propotioned legal adult, please go to your nearest Aperture Science employee to clear up the situation. Thank you."

The others in the lobby were looking at her, attracted by the message. Chell sighed, not sure how to get out of this. She could run, naturally, but it would probably turn out to be a fruitless action anyway. With no other course in mind, Chell stood and waited.

In under a minute, a surprisingly small robot rolled over towards her. She looked down at it.

"Please assume the escort position."

Chell blinked. Did that mean she had to actually lay on the ground?

"Please assume the escort position."

Apparently so, and with some humour, Chell got down on the floor. She was aware of the people still watching her, but she barely minded. The robot's pink eye blinked, and Chell felt it's cool metal arms wrap under her armpits, and around her shoulders. And then it was pulling her, back through the emancipation grill, which wavered sharply, and onto the elevator. Chell wondered who in this building designed the ridiculous bot. If she had been the engineer, she'd make the robot hold the escortee's hand; or, at least, anything less uncomfortable than being literally dragged.

But Chell couldn't help but crack an amused smile at the supervisor's dumbfounded expression when she arrived back at the centre, and was left at the doorstep. The robot disappeared silently, it's job done.

The room hadn't changed much in her absence - the boy was now playing with blocks instead, and the woman had a compact mirror out to touch up her fringe. Chell simply smiled and shrugged at the lady, and went back to the pile of papers on the floor, placing the potato in front of her for inspiration. She grabbed a pen, and began neatly writing out her new methodology for the experiment.

Chell knew her father wouldn't be angry at her when he sees her project next week, anyway.

After all, it was done in the name of science.

* * *

><p><strong>AN:** Wanted to write something with little!Chell. I was going to expand it to cover the actual Bring Your Daughter to Work Day and all it's wonderful neurotoxin-infested happenings, but it felt nice to cut it off here.

Gotta feel sad for Chell though. It means she was trapped in Aperture for all that time. Until they decided to stuff her in stasis, only to be woken for some testing by a psychotic AI. Fun times.


End file.
